The top-seeded Celtics face Washington on Monday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at TD Garden.
Meanwhile, the Celtics will be feeling that they let one get away as they were actually up by five points with possession in the final 1:15 of the game before things went sour.
The leader of the hosts John wall had a bad first half of the game, but thanks to the Bradley bill, "Washington" did not allow "Boston" to break away. Then for the finale, the signature shot that will define Wall's first seven years in the National Basketball Association: a gutsy 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds remaining in Washington's 92-91 victory, a shot that Scott Brooks described as one of "the biggest shots I've seen, as a player or as a coach". But kind of whiff on the referees' end definitely cost the Celtics a shot at taking Game 6 home and moving on to the conference finals to dance with Cleveland.
Wall then hit his go-ahead three that gave the Wizards the win. Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley each scored 27 points for the Celtics, while Horford finished with 20 points.
In that game, Beal needed 19 cracks at the rim just to get 16 points.
Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley each scored 27 points for the Celtics. The team is giving up 125 points per game in Boston, compared to 94 points per game in Washington. The Boston Celtics. Good luck dealing with that because if they play like Celtics tomorrow, there won't be a funeral in Boston.
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Wall continued his trend of slow starts. "The last two years we were in the playoffs, we lost Game 6 here, and we just had a lot of heart". Those near-misses provide confidence, but also the lesson Game 5 hammered home: They can not afford lapses. His team had been demolished in two straight games in Washington and his star player was having difficulty generating easy baskets against the Wizards' double and triple teams.
After the final buzzer sounded and Game 7 was ensured, John Wall leaped on the scorer's table at the Verizon Center and exulted. Coach Scott Brooks said of the team's performance in Game 5: "We didn't have the appropriate focus to start out the game".
"Our group doesn't get too high or too low", said Boston's Brad Stevens. "We had some breakdowns here and there that just cost us".
Game 1 was played the day after the funeral of Thomas' sister, Chyna, who was killed in a auto accident in mid-April in their home state of Washington.
Mahinmi said he had watched a replay of Wall's 3-pointer a "million times".
Brooks, as the leader of this team, presumably has the best feel for how his players will respond in the hostile Game 7 environment.
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